Outcome Based Education

Different definitions can be found for the Outcome based education. Among those, the most widely used one was suggested by Spady in 1994. According to Spady, Outcome Based Education is “an educational process that focuses on what students can do or the qualities that they should develop after they exit the educational system”. OBE rejects the traditional educational approaches based on direct instruction of facts and standard methods. Further OBE can be identified as a student centered learning model which puts student needs front and center of the learning design process. Outcome Based Education (OBE) is a model of education which focuses on achieving specified and well-defined outcomes using authentic assessments. By the end of the educational experience, the student should have achieved the outcome. Spady identified four principles of OBE, which are clarity of focus, designing down, high expectations and expanded opportunities. “Clarity of focus” means the teachers should focus on helping students to develop the knowledge, skills and personalities that will enable them to achieve the intended outcomes. “Designing down” means that the curriculum design must start with a clear definition of the intended outcomes that the students are to achieve by the end of the program. Once this has been done, all instructional decisions are then made to ensure achieve this desired end result. “High expectations” means that teachers should establish high, challenging standards of performance in order to encourage students to engage deeply in what they are learning. Helping students to achieve high standards is linked very closely with the idea that successful learning promotes more successful learning. “Expanded opportunities” means teachers must strive to provide expanded opportunities for all students. This principle is based on the idea that not all learners can learn the same thing in the same way and in the same time. However, most students can achieve high standards if they are given appropriate opportunities. In process of designing program curriculum, the outcomes of the learning is emphasized and predetermined. Then go backwards with curriculum design, program outcomes and course outcomes, development of instructions, delivery modes and appropriate assessment methodologies. Program outcomes are the sets of competencies that the learners are expected to demonstrate. Course outcomes refer to the knowledge, values and skills all learners are expected to demonstrate at the end of a course. Mission and vision of a program are translated in to indicators, metrics and targets. OBE is different to the traditional educational approach. Traditional education is a teacher centered approach in which teaching method is direct instruction and lectures. Students learn by listening and observation. Instructions are based on textbooks, lectures, and individual written assignments. Syllabus is content based and divided in to subjects. There is a grading/ranking system to evaluate students by which students are compared with each other. Therefore students become exam oriented. Also in traditional education, little attention is given to check the extent of their learning and to social development. Moreover, that provides students with lack of skills required for a job. But in OBE, significant attention is given to social development, including teamwork, interpersonal relationships, and self-awareness. Content is integrated and learning is relevant and connected to real life situations. Planning is done with outcome in the mind. Always achievement is predetermined. Under OBE, students are assessed on an ongoing basis and their critical thinking, reflection and action are improved. OBE exhibits both advantages and disadvantages. OBE provides well rounded graduates who will be more talented, therefore suitable for the industry and other stakeholders. Continuous quality improvement can be carried out in order to further improve the students. The focus on outcomes creates a clear expectation of what needs to be accomplished by the end of the course. Students will understand the things they are expected to do. Another advantage of OBE is flexibility. Instructors could build their lessons based on the student’s needs and any teaching method can be used to teach students. Instructors will also be able to recognize diversity among students by using various teaching and assessment techniques during their class. Student comparisons can be made across the institutions, hence students can move between institutions easily. In school to work transitions, these outcomes play an important role. A potential employer can look at the outcomes achieved by the student and based on that he can determine whether he/she is suitable to be recruited as an employee in his organization. Increased student involvement makes the student more responsible towards their own learning. Under OBE, students are expected to do more challenging tasks rather than memorizing lectures. They are able to write research proposals, presentations etc. Students will be more creative, they will improve the skills of analyzing, planning, organizing specific tasks, team work, communication skills etc. My point of view after reviewing advantages of OBE is implementation of OBE in Sri Lankan University undergraduate degree programs can be considered as essential to produce skillful job oriented graduates. The degree program outcomes should be clearly aligned with the course/module outcomes and the teaching and learning activities and assessment strategy should be aligned with the each course. OBE exhibits some disadvantages. Outcomes could be interpreted differently across different programs or with different instructors that will lead to a difference in education though the outcomes are same. It does not include objective standards of achievement that are measurable. There are assessment problems. Assessing liberal outcomes such as creativity, respect for self and others, responsibility, and self-sufficiency, can become problematic. There is not a measurable, observable, or specific way to determine if a student has achieved these outcomes. The teacher should be unbiased when evaluating a student. It is very expensive since each student studies individually to achieve outcome until he/ she become success so sometimes they waste their time. Therefore, expensiveness of OBE is a disadvantage for Sri Lankan undergraduate education. In Sri Lanka being a developing country, all the universities are unable to provide internet or computer facilities to all the students. And also in some universities do not have enough library references. There are many undergraduates came from financially poor families who are unable to have the facilities such as computers and internet facilities to access information at their home.